US Deportees Sue Ghana Over 'Illegal' Detention

Thomas Naadi

BBC Africa, Accra

President John Mahama has been criticised by opposition MPs for failing to present the deportation deal in parliament for ratification

Eleven people detained in Ghana after being deported from the US have sued the West African nation's government, their lawyer has told the BBC.

Oliver-Barker Vormawor said the deportees had not violated any Ghanaian law, and their detention in a military camp was therefore illegal.

He wanted the government to produce the group in court, and justify why they were being held against their will, the lawyer added.

The government has not yet commented on the lawsuit, but has previously said that it plans to accept another 40 deportees. Opposition MPs are demanding the immediate suspension of the deportation deal until parliament ratifies it, saying this was required under Ghanaian law.

Last week, Ghana's President John Mahama said that 14 deportees of West African origin had arrived in the country following an agreement reached with the US.

He later said that all of them had been returned to their countries of origin, though Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa contradicted him by saying that only most of them had been returned.

Mr Vormawor's court application contradicts both of them, saying that 11 deportees are still in detention in Ghana.

The 11 were held in a US detention facility before being shackled and deported in a military cargo aircraft, according to papers filed in court.

The deportations are part of the US government's hard-line approach towards immigration since President Donald Trump took office in January.

He has vowed to conduct record-level deportations of migrants in the country illegally.

Ghana's foreign minister was quoted on Monday by Reuters news agency as saying the decision to accept the deportees was based on "humanitarian principle and pan-African empathy".

"This should not be misconstrued as an endorsement of the immigration policies of the Trump administration," he said.

Five of the detainees, three Nigerians and two Gambians, have also sued the US government, arguing that they were protected by a court order and should not have been deported.